BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS

Arts

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what discussions he has had with Ministerial colleagues at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on promoting the growth of the creative industries in the regional economies.

Mark Prisk: The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, my right hon. Friend the Member for Twickenham (Vince Cable), co-chairs the Creative Industries Council (CIC) with the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Surrey (Mr Hunt). Although the CIC does not focus on regional economies or any specific region, BIS works with DCMS through this body to identify and tackle barriers to growth in the creative industries across the UK. Reports on (a) access to finance, and (b) skills have been presented to the CIC and actions arising from these studies are being taken forward. A report on wider growth issues is expected to be presented to the next CIC meeting which will take place within the next six months.
	In addition, Creative England was successful in its bid for support from the Regional Growth Fund for a scheme to promote growth in creative SMEs in the North of England, the West Midlands and the South West of England.

Business: Government Assistance

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills which organisations are offering 100 or more mentors through the Business Mentoring Scheme; and how many mentors are being provided through each such organisation.

Mark Prisk: Mentorsme.co.uk, the national mentoring portal, which is funded and operated by the British Bankers Association (BBA), currently provides access to over 100 mentoring organisations and, through them, around 11,000 business mentors. BBA data suggests that 24 of the mentoring organisations listed on mentorsme provide access to 100 or more mentors through their mentoring services. The largest of these provides access to 3,000 mentors. Others provide access to between 100 and 800 mentors.

Business: Loans

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what meetings (a) he and (b) officials in his Department have had with representatives of banks to discuss progress in meeting the 17 commitments made under the Business Finance Taskforce; and what the date was of each such meeting.

Mark Prisk: I chair the quarterly Small Business Economic Forum, which includes several business representative bodies, representatives of the major banks and the BBA, and at which progress against the Business Finance Taskforce commitments are discussed (amongst other issues affecting small busineses). The Forum met most recently on 25 April of this year, and is due to meet on the 18 of this month.
	The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, my right hon. Friend the Member for Twickenham (Vince Cable), and officials have frequent other meetings with banks’ representatives to discuss this, and other issues related to business finance.

Company Liquidations

Toby Perkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many business failures there were in each (a) local authority, (b) ward and (c) super output area in each of the last 12 months.

Norman Lamb: Figures are not available at the level of detail requested.
	Business insolvencies include: (i) corporate insolvencies, for which figures are compiled on a quarterly basis for England and Wales as a whole, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and (ii) those individual insolvencies where the insolvency is principally due to trading-related debts. While individual insolvency statistics are available down to the level of Westminster parliamentary constituencies, these are only compiled on an annual basis and they do not separately identify business failures.
	The latest quarterly Official Statistics for insolvency are available at:
	http://www.insolvencydirect.bis.gov.uk/otherinformation/statistics/insolvency-statistics.htm
	Regional individual insolvency statistics down to Westminster parliamentary constituency level, annually from 2000 to 2011, have been placed in the Libraries of the House.

Construction: Billing

Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent discussions his Department has had on payment practices in the construction sector; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Prisk: As the Minister of State for Business and Enterprise, I have regular discussions with the construction industry and payment practices often feature.
	The Government takes the issue of prompt payment seriously and respects some of the differences which prevail in the construction industry. That is why we have introduced amendments to the “Construction Act” to provide greater clarity around the communication of payments and to improve access to adjudication (which is a quick 28 day dispute resolution process). We are also using the Government's role as a customer of the industry to promote better payment practices through construction supply chains. For instance, over the next three years, £4 billion of public construction work will delivered using project bank accounts.

Directors: Disqualification

Toby Perkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many D1 reports on the required conduct of directors under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 have been received by the Insolvency Service; and how many directors were disqualified under that Act in 2011-12.

Norman Lamb: In the financial year from 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2012, 5,401 D1 reports were received and 1,151 disqualifications were obtained.

Motor Vehicles: Safety

Andrea Leadsom: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what consideration he has given to the likely effects on vehicle electronics of a severe space weather storm; and if he will take steps to ensure that car manufacturers provide advice to their customers on preparing their vehicles for such events.

David Willetts: We continue to consider the potential impact of a severe space weather event on a range of technologies and services that we rely upon in our everyday lives.
	Such an event has the potential to disrupt transportation, communication and power transmission infrastructures.
	Space weather impacts are recognised on the National Risk Register, and the UK's Met Office and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are working together to model and predict space weather events and assess the effects and the positive mitigative actions, such as design and operation of systems.
	Some systems are potentially more susceptible than others, most cars being unlikely to be seriously affected by a likely space weather event, with the possible exception of disruption of GPS to the car's satellite navigation system.

Patents

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what information the Intellectual Property Office holds on the size of the company making a patent application.

Norman Lamb: An applicant is required by the patents legislation to provide various details when they apply for a patent, but there is no requirement to indicate company size. Accordingly, the Intellectual Property Office holds no information on the size of a company making a patent application.

Regional Growth Fund

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what evaluations of the first two rounds of the Regional Growth Fund (RGF) have been carried out by (a) the RGF Independent Advisory Panel and (b) his Department; on what date each of these evaluations was completed; and if he will place a copy of these evaluations in the Library.

Mark Prisk: To date no evaluation of the first two rounds of the Regional Growth Fund (RGF) has been carried out by RGF Independent Advisory Panel or the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills as it is still far too early in the "appraisal and evaluation cycle" (HMT Green Book page 3).
	In line with HMT Green Book good practice:
	An evaluation plan is in place;
	Detailed value for money assessments have been carried out bids (in their report on the RGF (11 May 2012) the NAO say (para 3.6): "The detailed appraisal process reflects good practice in line with HM Treasury's Green Book");
	all RGF awards are monitored quarterly against key performance metrics such as employment impact and private sector investment;
	an interim evaluation is expected to be carried out at the end of the scheme in 2015 to build on monitoring data and undertake initial primary research to examine the additionality and wider economic benefits of RGF support; and
	a final evaluation of the RGF will be undertaken to answer the question of whether the intervention has delivered against its stated objectives.
	To be able to assess the long-term impact of the RGF, sufficient time should be allowed for benefit realisation. The final evaluation is expected to be carried out in 2020 and a copy will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Research

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the answer of 25 June 2012, Official Report, column 154W, on research, whether the Government has access to the UK data provided by Company Reporting Bespoke Databases Ltd, Edinburgh at the time its is provided to the EU Research and Development scoreboard.

David Willetts: The Government do not have, have not requested and do not currently intend to request access to the UK data provided by Company Reporting (Bespoke Databases) Ltd, Edinburgh at the time it is provided to the EU Research and Development scoreboard.

Students: Finance

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what the estimated level was of Higher Education Funding Council for England funding for part-time higher education students up to undergraduate level aged (a) 18 to 29 years and (b) 30 years and over in the latest period for which figures are available.

David Willetts: The 2010/11 Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) funding breakdown for part-time undergraduate students is as follows:
	
		
			 HEFCE funding for part-time undergraduate students by age 2010/11 
			  Aged under 30 (1) Aged 30 and over (1) 
			  Amount paid (£ million) Percentage of total Amount paid (£ million) Percentage of total 
			 HEFCE Funding 287 52 313 48 
			 (1) Age refers to age at the start of the academic year. Source: Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) 
		
	
	The breakdown of HEFCE funding was estimated based on the age distribution of HEFCE fundable part-time undergraduate students in higher education in the academic year 2010/11 applied to the total recurrent funding attributable to part-time students. The estimates exclude capital allocations and a small amount of recurrent expenditure that is not directly attributable to part-time student numbers, for example the Clinical Consultants' Pay supplement.

Students: Finance

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what the estimated level and proportion was of funding for full-time higher education students up to undergraduate level for students (a) 18 to 29 years and (b) 30 years and over; and what proportion of such sums was made up of (i) fee loans (cash cost), (ii) Higher Education Funding Council for England funding, (iii) maintenance loans (cash cost) and (iv) maintenance grants.

David Willetts: The 2010/11 Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) funding breakdown for full-time undergraduate students is as follows:
	
		
			 HEFCE funding for full-time undergraduate students by age 2010/11 
			  Aged under 30 (1) Aged 30 and over (1) 
			  Amount paid (£ million) Percentage of total Amount paid (£ million) Percentage of total 
			 HEFCE Funding 3,465 95 166 5 
			 (1) Age refers to age at the start of the academic year. Source: Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE)() 
		
	
	The breakdown of HEFCE funding was estimated based on the age distribution of HEFCE fundable full-time undergraduate students in higher education in the academic year 2010/11 applied to the total recurrent funding attributable to full-time students. The estimates exclude capital allocations and a small amount of recurrent expenditure that is not directly attributable to full-time student numbers, for example the Clinical Consultants' Pay supplement.
	The amount of support paid by the Student Loans Company (SLC) in the academic year 2010/11 split by age is shown in the following table:
	
		
			 Amount paid to students in student support by support type and age 2010/11 
			  Aged under 30 (1) Aged 30 and over (1)  
			 Student support type Amount paid (£ million) Percentage of total Amount paid  (£ million) Percentage of total Total paid (£ million) 
			 Maintenance loans(2) 2,846.7 92 256.4 8 3,103.1 
			 Maintenance grant(2) 1,113.4 88 147.0 12 1,260.4 
			 Tuition fee loans(3) 2,403.3 94 149.5 6 2,552.8 
			 (1) Age refers to age at the start of the academic year. (2) Maintenance loans and grants are paid to English domiciled students attending full-time courses in the UK. (3) Tuition fee loans are paid to higher education institutions on behalf of English domiciled students attending full-time courses in the UK and EU domiciled students studying full-time courses in England. Source: Student Loans Company (SLC)

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Fire Services

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what funding his Department provided to fire and rescue authorities in the 10 most deprived local authority areas in each of the last four financial years.

Bob Neill: The Index of Multiple Deprivation 2010 which ranks local authorities by deprivation by can be found at:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/statistics/indices2010
	Figures on resource funding for individual fire and rescue authorities over the last four Local Government Finance Settlements can be found at:
	http://www.local.communities.gov.uk/finance/ssas.htm

Information Officers

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much press officers in his Department, its agencies and arms length bodies have claimed in reimbursable expenses since May 2010.

Bob Neill: holding answer 21 June 2012
	The total reimbursable expenses claimed by the Department's central press officers since May 2010 totals £1,215. These were reimbursements for travel expenses. This compares to an average of £2,400 claimed annually by central departmental press officers between April 2004 and April 2009 and this represents a significant reduction compared to the last administration.
	A total of a further £554, again reimbursements of travel expenses, was claimed by press officers in four of the Department's current 14 arm’s length bodies since May 2010. The individual figures were:
	Audit Commission—£271
	Homes and Communities Agency—£53
	Tenants Services Authority—£56
	Fire Service College—£174
	Corresponding information for other arms length bodies could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Private Rented Housing: Regulation

Jack Dromey: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether he plans to bring forward proposals for regulation of lettings and management agents.

Grant Shapps: Between a third and a half of agents belong to bodies offering voluntary regulation. These include trade body or accreditation schemes such as the Association of Residential letting Agents, the National Association of Estate Agents, the National Approved Letting Scheme or the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and ensure that their members have the right protections in place and operate to certain standards. They also have redress systems if something goes wrong. At the same time, the industry led initiative, SAFEagent, which was launched last September, provides a simple to recognise logo for consumers.
	In view of the existence of these schemes, I do not think that the time is right for Government imposed regulation of the sector which would run the risk of increasing burdens and costs and, therefore, reducing supply and forcing up rents. The last Administration's imposition of Home Information Packs is a prime example of how excessive state regulation and intervention can harm the interests of consumers.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Absenteeism

John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what the absentee rate for civil servants in his Department was in each of the last three years.

John Penrose: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Bury St Edmunds (Mr Ruffley) on 10 July 2012, Official Report, column 129W.

Arts

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what steps he is taking to promote the growth of the creative industries in the regional economies.

Edward Vaizey: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 11 June 2012, Official Report, column 21W, to the hon. Member for Luton North (Kelvin Hopkins).

Arts

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what discussions he has had with Ministerial colleagues at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on ensuring that local enterprise partnerships are best configured to support the growth of the creative industries in the regional economies.

Edward Vaizey: The Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Surrey (Mr Hunt), meets the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, the right hon. Member for Twickenham (Vince Cable), regularly to discuss a wide range of subjects. In addition to this, they jointly Chair the Creative Industries Council, which specifically focuses on supporting growth in the creative industries.
	The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is working with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) to help encourage the creative sectors to make effective Regional Growth Fund Bids. Through the BIS Local network, BIS Officials have met with Creative Skillset nationally and are currently in the process of setting up meetings between BIS Local Teams and regional Creative Skillset colleagues to share intelligence and help build relationships with local enterprise partnerships (LEP) with a particular interest in the creative industries.
	Creative England, the lead body for supporting the sustainable growth of independent creative businesses in the regions, is in contact with LEPs across the regions that have a particular focus on the creative industries. Creative England is engaged in a range of activities to develop these relationships to support the creative industries at a local level, including linking the Regional Growth Fund-programme of business development activity with LEP activity in Sheffield and Leeds and the Creative Cities initiative in Birmingham, which is a partnership between the Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP and a range of public sector agencies.

Assets

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what assets his Department has sold and leased back over the last 12 months; what the sale price was of each asset so sold; and what estimate his Department has made of the cost to the public purse of leasing back each such asset over the period of the lease.

John Penrose: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has not leased back any assets it has sold in the last 12 months.

Broadband: EU Action

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 19 June 2012, Official Report, column 880W, on broadband, what steps he is taking during the ongoing EU negotiations to ensure that the Connecting Europe Facility is retained; and what representations he has received on this facility.

Edward Vaizey: The Department is broadly supportive of the Connecting Europe Facility proposals and, in particular, the objective of supporting projects contributing towards meeting the EU targets for broadband rollout and take-up which are broadly consistent with our own approach and policy in this area. The Devolved Administrations have also welcomed the Connecting Europe Facility as a potential source of additional funding for their broadband programmes.
	Budgetary restraint is of paramount importance in the current economic climate, and the UK is seeking significant reductions in the negotiations on the Multi-annual Financial Framework. Within this context, the UK cannot support the huge increase in infrastructure funding proposed by the Commission for the Connecting Europe Facility for.2014-20.

Ex Gratia Payments

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what estimate his Department has made of the monetary value of ex gratia payments made through schemes administered by his Department in the last two years.

John Penrose: According to the most recent records held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), for the period May 2011 to May 2012, DCMS has made no ex gratia payments on grant schemes.

Mobile Phones: Radio Frequencies

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what progress has been made on the Ofcom consultation on the 872-76 and 917-21 MHz bandwidths; what timetable has been set for completion of the consultation; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Vaizey: The matter raised is an operational one for the independent regulator, the Office of Communications (Ofcom). Ofcom has advised that it has not yet set a timetable for further analysis of the allocation of spectrum in the 872/917 MHz band. Ofcom will continue to keep the situation under review and update stakeholders when they progress this work.

Public Expenditure

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport whether he expects his Department to underspend its budget for 2012-13; and what estimate he has made of any such underspend.

John Penrose: The Office for Budget Responsibility will forecast underspends in Departmental Expenditure Limits as part of their Economic and Fiscal Outlook in the autumn and the Government itself will publish the full detail of plans and outturn for all Departments after the end of the financial year, usually in September, as part of the Transparency Agenda. HM Treasury publish outturn data for all Departments from the COINS database, available on the Treasury website on a quarterly basis. Forecasts for 2012-13 outturn by Department will be published at Budget 2013.

Staff

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport how many staff of his Department were in the civil service redeployment pool on the latest date for which figures are available; and how many of these had been in the redeployment pool for more than six months at that date.

John Penrose: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) does not have any staff in the civil service redeployment pool, nor has it within the last six months. DCMS currently has no surplus staff. DCMS manage staffing through flexible resourcing so the Department can respond rapidly and flexibly to new priorities.

DEFENCE

Afghanistan

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent assessment he has made of the capability of the Afghan Air Force and the number of its serviceable planes and helicopters; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Harvey: The UK does not, as one country among the 50 nation International Strategic Assistance Force coalition, make individual assessments on the capability of the Afghan Air Force (AAF).
	The NATO Training Mission—Afghanistan (NTM-A) leads international efforts to develop a self sufficient AAF with manpower of 8,000 and 145 aircraft by 2017.
	The NTM-A routinely assess progress against this target. Recent setbacks following airworthiness and engineering inspections have resulted in a temporary reduction in AAF capability, which is now being rectified. Currently Afghan Air Force manpower is approximately 5,580, with 97 aircraft.

Afghanistan

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Armed Forces personnel have served at least three months deployment in Afghanistan.

Nick Harvey: Between April 2007 and May 2012, approximately 83,170 members of the armed forces had served more than 91 days in Afghanistan. Information before 2007 is not held.

Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

Alan Reid: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence for what reasons he decided to reduce the company strength of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.

Nick Harvey: holding answer 10 July 2012
	I refer the hon. Member to the statement made by the Secretary of State for Defence, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), on 5 July 2012, Official Report, columns 1087-88, in which he confirmed that five infantry battalions would be withdrawn from the Army's order of battle.
	Following careful consideration of a number of criteria including, but not limited to, recruiting performance and regional and national affiliations, it was decided that 5th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland (5 Scots) would be withdrawn. However, based on a recognised task in Scotland for Public Duties, it was decided to retain one company of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (5 Scots) as a Public Duties Incremental Company (PDIC). As demonstrated in London, PDICs are an efficient way to execute public duties whilst also being capable of other tasks.

Army

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the oral statement of 5 July 2012, Official Report, column 1087, on Army 2020, in what way the Army plans to make greater use of contractors to support operations; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Harvey: holding answer 12 July 2012
	As part of the "whole force" concept referred to by the Secretary of State for Defence, the right hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), in his oral statement of 5 July 2012, Official Report, columns 1085-88, on Army 2020, we plan in future to move to a Total Support Force initiative where we expect to use more contractors in support of operations. While we have used contractors in support of operations for many years, we expect in future to use them more routinely across a wider range of support services in theatre such as fuel storage, freight distribution, catering and engineering support.

Astute Class Submarines

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he proposes that the seventh Astute-class submarine will use a PWR2 or PWR3 reactor.

Peter Luff: All Astute-class submarines will be powered by a pressurised water reactor 2 (PWR2). PWR3 is a new design, which exploits technology that was not available when the design of the Astute submarine was finalised.

Lost Working Days

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the average number of working days lost per person was in (a) his Department and (b) each of its agencies in each of the last three years.

Andrew Robathan: The average number of working days lost due to sickness absence in the Ministry of Defence and each of its trading funds over the last three years calculated in accordance with Cabinet office methodology, per person per year, is shown in the following table:
	
		
			  MOD DSTL Met Office UKHO DSG 
			 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010 8.3 4.3 5.2 8.6 10.2 
			 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2011 8.0 4.7 3.6 7.5 10.0 
			 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2012 8.1 4.8 — 6.8 9.5 
			 Notes: 1. The Royal Fleet Auxiliary and local engaged civilians are excluded from the totals. 2. The Meteorological Office ceased to be part of the MOD on 30 September 2011 and their figures are excluded from the 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2012 data.

Military Alliances

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what progress has been made on the formation of a future joint Anglo-French expeditionary force.

Nick Harvey: Good progress has been made towards establishing the Combined Joint Expeditionary Force (CJEF). Both the UK and France remain committed to ensuring that the force, along with a deployable Joint Force Headquarters, is available for military operations by the planned date of 2016.
	We have already reached agreement with the French on CJEF procedures in a range of areas including logistics, command and control, and how the single service components will operate together.

Nuclear Submarines: Wales

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he has received any official representations from the Welsh Government on the relocation of nuclear submarines to Wales.

Peter Luff: I have not received any official representations from the Welsh Government regarding the basing in Wales of the nuclear submarine fleet. The UK is not making plans for Scottish independence and is not making plans to move the nuclear deterrent or other submarines from HM Naval Base Clyde.

Nuclear Weapons

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what contracts his Department has entered into in respect of the replacement of the Trident missile system; on what date each such contract was entered into; what the nature of the goods or services received is; what the cost is; and what the termination date is in each case.

Peter Luff: holding answer 12 July 2012
	The Trident D5 missile is expected to remain in service until the 2040s, and we do not anticipate decisions on a replacement being required during the life of this Parliament. No contracts have therefore been placed. The potential cost of a replacement missile remains as published in the 2006 White Paper (CM6994) ‘The Future of the UK's Nuclear Deterrent’. A copy is available in the Library of the House.

Nuclear Weapons

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what costs his Department has incurred on preparations for Trident replacement ahead of a Parliamentary decision in 2016; how much of the cost incurred was spent on (a) submarine and (b) warhead replacement; and what expenditure he expects in the next three financial years.

Nick Harvey: holding answer 12 July 2012
	As detailed in ‘The United Kingdom's Future Nuclear Deterrent: The Submarine Initial Gate Parliamentary Report’ (May 2011), the Ministry of Defence (MOD) spent around £900 million on the concept phase of the Successor submarine programme, and we expect expenditure on the assessment phase to total £3 billion. Of this, the planned expenditure on the submarine replacement programme is expected to be £431 million in 2012-13, £486 million in 2013-14 and £595 million in 2014-15.
	As the Minister for Defence Equipment, Support and Technology, my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Worcestershire (Peter Luff), announced to the House on 14 May 2012., Official Report, column 20WS, the MOD is maintaining the existing warhead for as long as necessary, and ensuring that the capability to design and manufacture a replacement warhead, should that be necessary, is maintained. The decision to refurbish or replace the existing warhead will be made in the next Parliament. Studies informing such a decision are expected to amount to some £12 million per annum in 2012-13 and 2013-14 and £16 million in 2014-15. This expenditure forms part of the programme of investment at the Atomic Weapons Establishment.

Public Expenditure

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  with reference to the speech by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury of 23 April 2012 at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, what progress his Department has made on identifying a proportion of its resource budget that can be re-prioritised; what steps he has taken to identify such funds; and which parts of his Department's resource budget he has identified as suitable for re-prioritisation;
	(2)  what discussions he has had with his Department's agencies and the non-departmental bodies for which he is responsible on the contribution they will make to identifying resource budget for possible re-prioritisation;
	(3)  when he will make public the areas of his Department's resource budget he has identified for possible re-prioritisation; and when he plans to report to the Defence Select Committee on the outcome of this exercise.

Philip Hammond: The Ministry of Defence is working with HM Treasury to agree contingency plans as set out in ‘Improving Spending Control’, at the following link:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/improving_spending_ control.pdf
	Plans and options for reprioritisation will not be published. They should be “live” plans that are reassessed and updated on an ongoing basis.

Reserve Forces

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the oral statement of 5 July 2012, Official Report, columns 1085-88, on Army 2020, what changes are being made to the training of reservists in consequence of the measures announced in the Statement.

Andrew Robathan: holding answer 12 July 2012
	The training of Army reservists has already been changed under the Future Reserves 2020 programme to increase the attendance rate from 52% to 70% and to provide one sub-unit collective training exercise per major reserve unit annually, incorporating over 20 sub-unit level overseas training exercises. This represents an almost doubling of such exercises from previous normal levels.
	Individual training is now the responsibility of the Army Recruiting and Training Division which, as part of the move to a fully integrated Army, is now delivering all recruit training and is in the process of taking on all trade training.
	Collective training will continue to develop, to deliver progressively routine integrated training involving paired regular and reserve units by 2015-16.

Reserve Forces

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many businesses are participating in his Department's Partnering for Talent programme.

Nick Harvey: holding answer 12 July 2012
	The Partnering for Talent programme aims to create an enduring pipeline of skilled reservists, trained by the Ministry of Defence in collaboration with further and higher education establishments and government and industry employers, thus contributing to their personal and professional development, with the proactive support of their employer.
	The programme is currently at the concept development stage and we are scoping this with 12 businesses across a range of industry sectors. This scoping exercise will ensure that the concepts are deliverable, scalable and measurable. Following completion of concept development, there will be national rollout to employers of all sizes and sectors.

Reserve Forces

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which (a) individuals and (b) organisations his Department plans to consult with as part of the consultation on the effect of his proposed reforms on reservists and employers.

Nick Harvey: holding answer 12 July 2012
	The Ministry of Defence will consult widely with employers and employers' organisations but will also provide opportunities for other interested parties to register their views.

Reserve Forces

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions he has had with his ministerial colleagues on the employment rights of reservists.

Nick Harvey: holding answer 12 July 2012
	The Secretary of State for Defence, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), meets regularly with his ministerial colleagues to discuss a wide variety of matters, including those relating to reservists.

Reserve Forces

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many reservists he expects to be on high readiness at any one time once the full 30,000 reserve contingent has been established.

Nick Harvey: Army force elements, in both regular and reserve components, will be held at varying levels of readiness dependent on role and training. There will be very few reserves held at very high readiness apart from a small number of individual augmentees supporting regular force elements. Within the remainder of the reaction force, which will be held at an appropriate level of readiness to provide a brigade-sized stabilisation commitment, reserves will contribute 10% of the structure. The exact numbers of reserves required for any operation will depend on its nature and scale.

Royal Regiment of Scotland

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the established strength of each unit within the Royal Regiment of Scotland will be under his Army 2020 proposals.

Nick Harvey: In the future Army Structure outlined under Army 2020, the attribution of specific infantry battalions to role has not been decided. It is therefore too early to provide the established strength of each unit within the Royal Regiment of Scotland.
	However when the future role of each battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland has been decided:
	Any battalions that are in the Armoured Infantry role will have a full unit establishment of 729 personnel;
	Any battalions that are in the Mechanised (Heavy Protected Mobile) Infantry role will have a full unit establishment of 709 personnel;
	Any battalions that are in the Light Protected Mobile Infantry role will have a full unit establishment of 581 personnel;
	Any battalions that are in the Light Infantry role will have a full unit establishment of 561 personnel;
	The 5th Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland, which will form a Public Duties Incremental Company, will most probably move to a sub-unit establishment of around 140 personnel. Although this number could change slightly once the precise structure of the unit has been finalised.

Veterans: Radiation Exposure

Andrew Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence to which independent scientists his Department has made available the documents on which it relied in determining exposure to radiation by veterans of the British nuclear test programme in the 1950s and 1960s.

Andrew Robathan: In relation to the legal proceedings involving nuclear test veterans, both the Secretary of State and the veterans have instructed independent experts, Mr Ken Johnston and Professor Patrick Regan. Both of these have been given access to the relevant documents and subsequently produced independent expert reports. The First Tier Tribunal will consider their reports as part of the evidence in the war pension appeals and will issue a judgment in due course.

EDUCATION

Assets

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assets his Department has sold and leased back over the last 12 months; what the sale price was of each asset so sold; and what estimate his Department has made of the cost to the public purse of leasing back each such asset over the period of the lease.

Tim Loughton: The Department has not sold and leased back any assets over the past 12 months.

Email

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education on what date he received advice from the Cabinet Office that private email accounts were outside the scope of the Freedom of Information Act 2000; from whom he received that advice; in what format it was received; and if he will place in the Library a copy of that advice.

Tim Loughton: holding answer 26 June 2012
	I refer the hon. Member to the response given by my the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, my right hon. Friend the Member for Horsham (Mr Maude), on 6 February 2012, Official Report, column 63W.

Ex Gratia Payments

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate his Department has made of the monetary value of ex gratia payments made through schemes administered by his Department in the last two years.

Tim Loughton: In 2010-11, the Department made 15 ex- gratia payments totalling £18,129.96. In 2011-12, it made 36-such payments, totalling £48,544.96.

Foster Care

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many foster carers there are in (a) Barnsley Central constituency, (b) South Yorkshire and (c) England and Wales; and how many are unemployed in each case.

Tim Loughton: holding answer 12 July 2012
	Data on the number of carers in each fostering service in England is collected by Ofsted. The information cannot be summarised at local or regional level as foster carers may not reside in the area in which they are registered with a fostering service.
	There were 56,145 foster carers in England on 31 March 2011 according to statistics published by Ofsfed:
	http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/fostering-agencies-and-fostering-services-dataset-201011
	This was, however, from a return rate from fostering services of 91%. Ofsted does not collect data for Wales.
	No data on the employment status of foster carers is collected.

GCSE

Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the per pupil cost of funding for students sitting GCSEs in (a) English and (b) mathematics in (i) England and (ii) Blackpool North and Cleveleys constituency was in the most recent academic year for which figures are available.

Nick Gibb: Funding is allocated to maintained schools on the basis of a local formula with the main focus on pupil numbers along with pupil and school characteristics. Funding for Academies is calculated on a comparable basis. Funding is not allocated in relation to specific qualifications or subjects. The information requested is therefore not available.

New Schools Network

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what presentations the New Schools Network has given to his Department since May 2010.

Nick Gibb: New Schools Network has given several presentations to officials working in Free Schools Group since May 2010, all of which have focused on the experience and perspectives of free school applicants.

Offences Against Children: Internet

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will place in the Library a copy of each item of correspondence between his Department and stakeholders on protecting children online since May 2010.

Tim Loughton: holding answer 12 July 2012
	Departmental officials have very regular contact with a wide range of stakeholders about online child protection. To provide a copy of every piece of correspondence since May 2010 would result in a disproportionate cost to the taxpayer.

Offences Against Children: Internet

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what discussions (a) he and (b) Ministers in his Department have had with ministerial colleagues to discuss protecting children online.

Tim Loughton: holding answer 12 July 2012
	I met the former Minister for Crime and Security, my hon. Friend the Member for Old Bexley and Sidcup (James Brokenshire), every six weeks during 2010 and until autumn 2011 to discuss online child protection issues as we co-chaired the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) executive board. My hon. Friend’s child internet safety responsibilities then transferred to the Minister for Equalities and Criminal Information, the hon. Member for Hornsey and Wood Green (Lynne Featherstone), and I have met her every quarter since then to discuss online child protection issues at UKCCIS executive board meetings. The Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries, my hon. Friend the Member for Wantage (Mr Vaizey), is also a member of the UKCCIS executive board and I met him in July 2010, July and September 2011 and in February 2012 when he attended. The Secretary of State for Transport, my right hon. Friend the Member for Putney (Justine Greening), has had no meetings with ministerial colleagues to discuss protecting children online.

Private Education: Education Maintenance Allowance

Damian Hinds: To ask the Secretary of State for Education pursuant to the answer of 3 July 2012, Official Report, column 600W, on private education: education maintenance allowance, how much has been paid in education maintenance allowance to pupils at independent schools, excluding those attending independent special schools, since its introduction.

Nick Gibb: Between the 2004/05 and 2010/11 academic years, £51,876,390 was paid out in education maintenance allowance to pupils at independent schools (excluding those who attended independent special schools).

Public Expenditure

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education with reference to the speech by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury of 23 April 2012 at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, 
	(1)  what progress his Department has made on identifying a proportion of its resource budget that can be re-prioritised; what steps he has taken to identify such funds; and which parts of his Department's resource budget he has identified as suitable for re-prioritisation;
	(2)  what discussions he has had with his Department's agencies and the non-departmental bodies for which he is responsible on the contribution they will make to identifying resource budget for possible re-prioritisation;
	(3)  when he will make public the areas of his Department's resource budget he has identified for possible re-prioritisation; and when he plans to report to the Education Select Committee on the outcome of this exercise.

Tim Loughton: The Department is working with the Treasury to agree contingency plans as set out in “Improving Spending Control”
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/improving_spending_ control.pdf
	Plans and options for reprioritisation will not be published. They should be "live" plans that are reassessed and updated on an ongoing basis.

Schools: Finance

Elizabeth Truss: To ask the Secretary of State for Education pursuant to the answer of 3 July 2012, Official Report, column 601W, on schools, how many pages of guidance there were in each area before the Government's reductions.

Nick Gibb: Following the response given to my hon. Friend on 3 July 2012, Official Report, column 602W, the following table sets out how many pages of the department's guidance there were in each area before the Government's reductions:
	
		
			  Original  n umber of pages in September 2011 
			   
			 Admissions 160 
			 Assessment 220 
			 Attendance 200 
			 Behaviour (Discipline, Bullying, Exclusions and AP) 979 
			 Careers 413 
			 Challenge 2342 
			 Curriculum 2353 
			 Data Collection 130 
			 Equality 306 
			 Extended Services 1255 
			 EYFS 665 
			 Finance 1253 
			 Governance 1219 
			 Health & Safety 150 
			 Improving Pupil Performance 2524 
			 Initiatives 104 
			 Inspection 2 
			 Look After Children 138 
			 Media 188 
			 NEET 91 
			 Parental Information 712 
			 PE/ Sport 127 
			 Pedagogy and Practice 1959 
			 Premises 1489 
			 Qualifications 1174 
			 Reducing Bureaucracy 196 
			 Raising Participation Age 110 
			 Safeguarding 1219 
			 School Food 88 
			 School Improvement 569 
			 School Organisation 831 
			 School Travel 65 
			 SEN 1320 
			 Staffing and Workforce 1660 
			 Science Technology Engineering Maths 765 
			 Sustainability 831 
		
	
	
		
			 Target Setting 59 
			 Work Related Learning 279 
			 Youth Support (including Drugs) 310

Schools: Sports

Harriet Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many school sports co-ordinators there were (a) nationwide and (b) in each local authority area in the academic year 2011-12.

Tim Loughton: Department for Education funding for school sport co-ordinators ended at the end of the summer term 2011, and we do not collect data about the number of them who are funded from other sources, including schools' budgets. The Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), has made available £65 million over the academic years 2011/12 and 2012/13 to release a PE teacher from every secondary school for one day a week to increase opportunities in school sport. All state funded schools in England with at least 20 secondary aged pupils are eligible for this funding.

Schools: Sports

Harriet Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many school sports partnerships there were (a) nationally and (b) in each local authority area in the school years (i) 2007-08, (ii) 2008-09, (iii) 2009-10, (iv) 2010-11 and (v) 2011-12.

Tim Loughton: For the years 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11, there were 450 school sport partnerships in England. Ring-fenced funding for school sport partnerships ended at the end of the summer term 2011.
	From 2007 to the end of the summer term 2011, the network of school sport partnerships included every maintained school in England. A list of school sport partnerships in each local authority area has been placed in the House Libraries. The list is the same for each year requested. However, the boundaries of school sport partnerships did not always coincide with local authority boundaries. Some partnerships, therefore, appear in more than one local authority in the list.

Teachers: Allowances

Gavin Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  what average amount was received by teachers in allowances additional to their basic salaries in each of the last three years;
	(2)  what total amount was paid to teachers in allowances additional to their basic salaries in each of the last three years.

Nick Gibb: The following table provides the average and total amount of additional allowances received by qualified teachers in service in publicly funded schools in England, in November 2010 and 2011.
	No comparable information is available for earlier years.
	
		
			 Total and average amount of additional allowances paid to teachers in service in publicly funded schools. November 2010 and 2011. England 
			  Total full-time qualified teachers Percentage in receipt of an allowance Total amount paid in allowances (£) Average amount of all paid per teacher in receipt (£) Average allowance per teacher  (£) 
			 2010 471,300 33 683,326,900 4,400 1,500 
			 2011 472,900 34 687,712,400 4,300 1,500 
			 Note: Allowances are rounded to the nearest £100. Source: School Workforce Census

Teachers: Coventry

Bob Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many (a) teachers and (b) teaching assistants were employed in schools in the Coventry local authority area in each of the last five years.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 11 July 2012
	The following table provides the full-time equivalent numbers of teachers and teaching assistants who were employed in publicly funded schools in Coventry local authority and England in January 2007 to 2009 and November 2010 to 2011.
	
		
			 Full time equivalent (FTE) teachers and teaching assistants in service in publicly funded schools; January 2007 to 2009 and November 2010 to 2011, Coventry local authority and England 
			  FTE Teachers FTE Teaching Assistants (1) 
			  Coventry England Coventry England 
			 January (2)     
			 2007 2,940 452,490 890 163,800 
			 2008 3,030 453,830 850 176,990 
			 2009 3,130 454,270 810 183,700 
			      
			 November (3)     
			 2010 3,080 448,070 1,200 213,900 
			 2011 3,100 438,020 1,500 219,750 
			 (1) Includes special needs support staff and minority ethnic pupil support staff. (2) Sources: Form 618g for FTE teachers and School Census for FTE teaching assistants. (3) Sources: School Workforce Census 2010 and 2011. Note: Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.

Teachers: Resignations

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many (a) primary and (b) secondary school teachers voluntarily left the profession during the 2010 and 2011 school years.

Nick Gibb: The information requested is not available in the format requested.
	Time series information is available on the numbers of teachers retiring from publicly funded schools. This information is available in the ‘additional tables from the Statistical First Release’ section of the ‘School Workforce In England, November 2010 (Provisional)’ publication which is available on the Department's website:
	http://www.education.gov.uk/researchandstatistics/statistics/allstatistics/a00196713/school-workforce-sfr

Teachers: Veterans

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many former service personnel who are military mentors have been recruited to support the Troops to Teachers programme since its inception.

Nick Gibb: Since the announcement of the Troops to Teachers programme, we have focused on increasing the number of service leavers undertaking initial teacher training (ITT). The Department began recording the number of service leavers applying for ITT courses from March 2011. Since 1 March 2011, 239 service leavers applied for ITT courses of which 103(1) have been accepted so far.
	(1) Data Teaching Agency 4 July 2012
	This year we allocated an additional 50 places on the Graduate Teacher Programme (GTP), which will be available to service leavers exclusively. We plan to allocate further places on an annual basis to School Direct (Salaried), which replaces the GTP from 2013.

Travel

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much he has claimed in overnight subsistence allowances for the purpose of official government business in the last 12 months.

Tim Loughton: holding answer 12 July 2012
	The Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), has not claimed any expenses for overnight subsistence whilst on departmental business in the last 12 months.

Written Questions: Government Responses

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when he plans to answer question (a) 106403, tabled on 9 May 2012 and originally tabled as Question 94256 on 3 February 2012 and (b) 106412 tabled on 9 May 2012 and originally tabled as question 97217 on 23 February 2012.

Tim Loughton: I refer the hon. Member to the responses given on 18 June 2012, Official Report, column 659W and on 23 May 2012, Official Report, column 744W.

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Carbon Sequestration

Julian Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how the feed-in tariff contracts for difference will be used to support carbon capture and storage.

Charles Hendry: Contracts for Difference will provide long-term price stability for all forms of low carbon generation, including CCS-equipped Fossil Fuel generation plant. This will enable more investment to come forward sooner at a cheaper cost of capital—allowing us to meet our decarbonisation goals while reducing consumer bills in the medium and longer term.
	Further detail, including on variations which the Government may include within the Contracts for Difference for early stage CCS projects, is available in "Annex B Feed-In-Tariff with Contracts for Difference: Draft operational Framework" which was published alongside the draft Energy Bill on 22 May 2012.

Carbon Sequestration

Julian Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what progress has been made on the financing of storage infrastructure for carbon capture and storage schemes.

Charles Hendry: The UK CCS Commercialisation Programme, launched on 3 April 2012, makes available £1 billion in capital grant funding to support projects to develop CCS. Full CCS chain projects will also be eligible for support from low carbon Contracts for Difference as proposed in the draft Energy Bill, published in May 2012. CfDs will provide, long-term price stability from the sale of electricity, thus supporting investment in infrastructure development and operational costs.

Electricity Generation: Environment Protection

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change 
	(1)  what assessment his Department has made of the potential role of distributed generation in reducing the UK's carbon emissions;
	(2)  what assessment his Department has made of the potential role for community-based electricity generation projects larger than five megawatts in capacity in the electricity market reform process.

Gregory Barker: The Government acknowledges that distributed generation (including combined heat and power, or “CHP”) can play a significant role in the cost-effective delivery of Government's decarbonisation and security of supply objectives.
	The Department appreciates the benefits of fossil fuel CHP in reducing carbon emissions from heat and power in the medium term, as outlined in our recent publication, “The future of Heating: A strategic framework for low carbon heat in the UK”(1). We are currently carrying out analysis of the potential costs and impacts, including carbon impacts, of different potential support mechanisms. The rationale for am support needs to be considered carefully, to ensure it is justified and delivers good value to taxpayers and energy consumers.
	It is expected that distributed generation using eligible low-carbon technologies will be able to access the CfD on the same terms as other generation types. DECC officials are engaging with industry, through the Ministerial Distributed Energy Contact Group (DECG)(2), on the delivery of analysis demonstrating of the ability of distributed generation to contribute to cost-effective achievement of Government's decarbonisation and security of supply goals.
	() (1) http://www.decc.gov.uk/assets/decc/11/meeting-energy-demand/heat/4805-future-heating-strategic-framework.pdf
	() (2) ( )http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/meeting_energy/heat_ strategy/decg.aspx

Pay

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many staff of his Department received bonuses in excess of (a) £1,310, (b) £2,000, (c) £5,000 and (d) £10,000 in (i) 2010 and (ii) 2011.

Gregory Barker: The Department of Energy and Climate Change currently awards both non consolidated end of year performance awards and in year special awards.
	The Department uses non consolidated performance related payments to help drive high performance as they:
	encourage continuous high attainment because the payments are dependent upon continuing strong performance;
	prevent a permanent rise in salary and an increase in pension on the basis of one off performances while still allowing good performance to be rewarded;
	have no long term costs, in particular it does not increase future pension payments;
	focus the work of employees more directly on the priority goals of the organization;
	motivate employees by linking an element of compensation to the achievement of objectives rather than offering payment for time served;
	target money at those who make the biggest contribution.
	End of year non consolidated performance awards are used to reward the departments highest performers as assessed in their end of year appraisal reports.
	Non consolidated in year special awards are used to recognise performance or behaviours which might not be fully reflected in an end of year performance appraisal. These may be used to reward staff for exceptional pieces of work or taking on additional responsibilities.
	
		
			  Number of awards in excess of: 
			  £1,310 and above £2,000 and above £5,000 and above £10,000 and above 
			 January—December 2010 109 81 22 1 
			 January—December 2011 107 78 22 1

Pay

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the (a) average and (b) total amount paid in bonuses to staff in his Department was in (i) 2010 and (ii) 2011.

Gregory Barker: The Department of Energy and Climate Change currently awards both non consolidated end of year performance awards and in year special awards.
	The Department uses non consolidated performance related payments to help drive high performance as they:
	encourage continuous high attainment because the payments are dependent upon continuing strong performance;
	prevent a permanent rise in salary and an increase in pension on the basis of one off performances while still allowing good performance to be rewarded;
	have no long term costs, in particular it does not increase future pension payments;
	focus the work of employees more directly on the priority goals of the organisation;
	motivate employees by linking an element of compensation to the achievement of objectives rather than offering payment for time served;
	target money at those who make the biggest contribution.
	End of year non consolidated performance awards are used to reward the departments highest performers as assessed in their end of year appraisal reports.
	Non consolidated, in year special awards are used to recognise performance or behaviours which might not be fully reflected in an end of year performance appraisal. These may be used to reward staff for exceptional pieces of work or taking on additional responsibilities.
	The average value of awards and total spend is shown in the following table:
	
		
			 £ 
			  Average award Total 
			 January—December 2010 1,046 825,648 
			 January—December 2011 809 958,783

Renewable Energy: Feed-in Tariffs

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment his Department has made of the potential suitability of feed-in tariff contracts for difference for low-carbon technologies other than offshore wind and nuclear power.

Gregory Barker: The feed-in tariff with Contracts for Difference is designed to be suitable for all forms of low carbon generation. This includes offshore wind and nuclear power but also embraces carbon capture and storage and a wide range of renewable technologies.

Space Weather

Andrea Leadsom: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the potential threat of lengthy power outages following a severe space weather storm.

Charles Hendry: The Government's assessment of the potential threat of lengthy power outages following severe space weather was provided to the House of Commons Defence Committee and published as part of its report on 8 February 2012. The same report included written evidence from National Grid on the results of discussions with Government Departments, including DECC, on the potential impacts on transformers and power networks. DECC is continuing to work with National Grid and more widely across industry to better understand these impacts as space weather forecasting improves. Evidence provided to the Committee did not exclude the possibility of power outages but made clear that National Grid had in place a wide range of mitigating actions, and was investigating other options to harden the UK system. We are now working jointly with industry to develop a more detailed assessment of the potential impacts on the GB electricity system of a severe space weather event.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Air Pollution: EU Law

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she plans to take to address non-compliance with the EU air quality directive.

Richard Benyon: For those zones of a member state where exceedences of air quality limits are reported, EU directive 2008/50/EC on ambient air quality requires member states to produce air quality plans. These plans must set out the action being taken to achieve the limits in the shortest possible time.
	While the UK is compliant with most EU air quality standards, in common with most other member states, meeting the limits for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in our cities and towns is challenging. Underperformance of diesel vehicles against EU emissions standards for oxides of nitrogen is a key part of the problem. In 2011, the UK submitted air quality plans to the European Commission for the 40 zones where NO2 exceedences were reported.
	Where compliance with the NO2 limits can be demonstrated by 2015, the European Commission can allow time extensions up to that date. The Commission has recently accepted our case for time extensions in nine zones. We are continuing our efforts to explore the scope for additional action at national, regional and local level to achieve the NO2 limits in all zones as soon as possible.

Assets

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assets her Department has sold and leased back over the last 12 months; what the sale price was of each asset so sold; and what estimate her Department has made of the cost to the public purse of leasing back each such asset over the period of the lease.

Richard Benyon: During the last 12 months core DEFRA has not entered into any sale and leaseback transactions.

Climate Change

Peter Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent assessment she has made of how global warming is affecting the UK.

Richard Benyon: DEFRA is responsible for assessing climate change impacts on the UK. We laid the UK Climate Change Risk Assessment before Parliament on 25 January this year. This was the first in a five year cycle of assessments of this type. The Climate Change Risk Assessment is available on DEFRA’s website.

Fishing Vessels: Scallops

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will publish the list of vessels entitled to fish for scallops in western waters in (a) 2003 and (b) 2012.

Richard Benyon: It is UK policy that every over 15 metre vessel can fish within western waters by virtue of their UK fishing licence. However, vessels without a scallop authority on their UK fishing licence are not permitted to target King scallops (“Pecten maximus”) with mechanical dredges.

Game: Animal Welfare

Jason McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many pheasants are reared for sport annually; and what proportion of them are (a) beak-trimmed and (b) fitted with bits.

Richard Benyon: DEFRA does not hold information relating to the numbers of pheasants reared for sport annually, or the proportion of them that are beak trimmed or fitted with bits.

Lost Working Days

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the average number of working days lost per person was in (a) her Department and (b) each of its agencies in each of the last three years.

Richard Benyon: The average number of working days lost per person due to sickness in core DEFRA and each of its Executive agencies is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Year to 31 March 2010 Year to 31 March 2011 Year to 31 March 2012 
			 Core DEFRA 5.8 5.4 3.9 
			 Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency(1) 7.6 8.1 7.0 
			 Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science 7.4 6.0 3.8 
			 Food and Environment Research Agency 5.0 4.7 5.6 
			 Marine and Fisheries Agency(2) 6.6   
			 Rural Payments Agency 10.2 10.4 8.9 
			 Veterinary Medicines Directorate 8.3 7.6 7.5 
			 Total 7.8 7.5 6.4 
			 (1) The Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA) comprised two separate agencies before 1 April 2011. The figures shown for the year to 31 March 2010 and the year to 31 March 2011 represent the average number of working days lost for the two agencies in each case. (2) The Marine and Fisheries Agency was subsumed into the Marine Management Organisation (a non-departmental public body of DEFRA) on 1 April 2010.

Mutual Societies

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the number of full-time equivalent staff who will transfer from her Department, its non- departmental public bodies and Executive agencies workforce to a mutual in (a) 2011-12 and (b) 2012-13; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Benyon: No staff in Core DEFRA or the five Executive agencies transferred to a mutual in 2011-12 or are expected to transfer to a mutual in 2012-13. DEFRA does not collect this information centrally for its non-departmental bodies. No estimates have been made about future staff transfers from Core DEFRA to mutual organisations.
	Although it is a transfer from a public corporation to a charity (not a mutual), we expect to transfer 1,454 employees from British Waterways in England and Wales to the Canal & River Trust in the summer, subject to parliamentary approval of the draft British Waterways Board (Transfer of Functions) Order 2012.
	We will continue to keep under review the most appropriate delivery models for DEFRA and its wider network, including through our planned cycle of triennial reviews of non-departmental public bodies.

Pay

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the lowest hourly rate is paid to staff by her Department; how many members of staff based outside London are paid less than £7.20 per hour; and how many members of staff based in London are paid less than £8.30 per hour.

Richard Benyon: The lowest hourly rate paid to staff in core DEFRA is £7.08. Three members of core DEFRA staff based outside London are earning less than £7.20 per hour. One member of core DEFRA staff based in London is earning less than £8.30 per hour.

Public Expenditure

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether she expects her Department to underspend its budget for 2012-13; and what estimate she has made of any such underspend.

Richard Benyon: The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecast underspends in departmental expenditure limits as part of its Economic and Fiscal Outlook in the autumn.
	As part of the Transparency Agenda the Government publishes the full detail of plans and outturn for all Departments after the end of the financial year, usually in September. HM Treasury publishes outturn data for all Departments from the COINS/OSCAR database, available on the HM Treasury website on a quarterly basis. Forecasts for 2012-13 outturn by Department will be published at Budget 2013.

Renewable Energy: Waste

Sarah Newton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs with reference to the speech of 21 June 2012 by the Director for Climate, Waste and Atmosphere in her Department, if she will publish the evidence base in respect of the health and environmental factors to be addressed in the proposed guidance for energy from waste; and if she will commit to undertake periodic reviews of any such guidance.

Richard Benyon: The purpose of the guide to Energy from Waste is to help shape the debate around energy from waste, so that the key environmental, technical and economic issues and options are considered. Encouraging full and informed discussion will help to deliver energy from waste that uses the right fuel, in the right place, at the right time.
	As such the guide will mainly use existing published material that will be clearly signposted. Any new evidence used will be published in line with DEFRA’s usual procedures. The intention is that the guide will be regularly reviewed. On health in particular, we are guided by the Health Protection Agency which reviews its position when any new substantive evidence arises.

Telephone Services

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many private sector call centre staff were used by her Department and its agencies in each of the last three financial years; and at what cost to the public purse.

Richard Benyon: Core DEFRA and the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA) have a contract in place for a range of outsourced, customer service functions, including a telephone helpline. The contract does not specify the number of staff needed to carry out the service as this is the responsibility of the contracted authority. The cost of the contract is commercially confidential since the contract will shortly be retendered.

Whales: Conservation

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she plans to take at the 2012 International Whaling Commission meeting to protect whales.

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps the Government plans to take at the 2012 meeting of the International Whaling Commission to achieve greater protection for whales.

Richard Benyon: I attended part of this year's meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Panama (IWC64) to demonstrate the UK's commitment to the conservation work of the IWC and our fundamental support for the moratorium on commercial whaling. I am pleased to report that the UK achieved all its priorities and would refer hon. Members to my written ministerial statement laid on 10 July, Official Report¸ columns 14-15WS, for a summary of outcomes.

Whales: Conservation

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps the Government has taken at the 2012 meeting of the International Whaling Commission to protect whales.

Richard Benyon: holding answer 5 July 2012
	I attended part of this year's meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Panama (IWC64) to demonstrate the UK's commitment to the conservation work of the IWC and our fundamental support for the moratorium on commercial whaling. I am pleased to report that the UK achieved all its priorities and would refer the hon. Member to my written ministerial statement laid on 10 July 2012, Official Report , column 15WS, for a summary of outcomes.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Abid Hussein

Michael Dugher: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 26 June 2012, Official Report, column 202W, on Abid Hussein, how many times officials in his Department have met Abid Hussein; what the (a) date and (b) location was of each meeting; what the nature was of these meetings; and who attended each meeting.

Alistair Burt: I refer the hon. Member to my answer on 26 June 2012, Official Report, column 202W. Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) officials have met with Mr Hussain on a few occasions in his capacity as a prominent member of the British Pakistani community.
	FCO officials have meetings with a wide variety of individuals and organisations as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings.

HEALTH

Breast Cancer: Screening

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to page 33 of the NHS Chief Executive's Annual Report 2011/12, what criteria were used to determine that some local programmes related to breast screening were unsuitable for randomisation.

Paul Burstow: The NHS Breast Screening Programme is currently being extended to women aged 47 to 73. In order to ensure that the most useful epidemiological data can be gathered to inform future decisions about the programme, the extension is being randomised so that half of the groups of women invited will be invited at the age of 47 to 49, and the other half at age 71 to 73.
	Within the NHS Breast Cancer Screening Programme randomisation project, nine of the 80 local programmes are unsuitable for randomisation. Eight of these have batch methods for call/recall that are not suitable for randomisation, the other is run by the private sector, which would have made obtaining ethical approval for participation in the randomisation project difficult. The nine sites are therefore inviting women aged 47 to 49 only, as women aged over 70 are already entitled to self-refer for breast screening every three years.

Carers

Andrew Bridgen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what steps he has taken to provide information for primary care trusts (PCTs) on their obligation to meet the requirements set out in the NHS Operating Framework 2012/13 to publish policies, plans and budgets to support carers under the Carers Strategy on the PCT or PCT cluster's website by 30 September 2012;
	(2)  what mechanism he plans to put in place to monitor the performance of NHS organisations from 2013-14 against the requirements of Operating Framework 2012/13 for increased support for carers under the Carers Strategy and the allocation of funding for carers breaks between 2011 and 2015.

Paul Burstow: The NHS Operating Framework 2012-13 sets out clearly the requirements for primary care trusts (PCTs) to support carers and is more specific about their plans, which should be explicitly agreed and signed off with local authorities and identify the financial contribution made to support carers. The plans should also include how much is being spent on carers' breaks together with an indicative number of breaks available. PCTs will be required to publish their plans on their website by September 2012.
	The NHS Operating Framework is the annual management agenda for the national health service. It translates the Government's priorities, agreed as part of the spending review, into NHS deliverables. It sets out roles, expectations and describes how NHS organisations will be held to account in that financial year.
	Through the strategic health authority (SHA) cluster assurance process, SHAs will seek assurance from PCTs that the requirement to publish has been completed by 30 September 2012. From April 2013, responsibility will pass to Clinical Commissioning Groups.

Health Service Commissioner

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what system is in place for monitoring the quality of the work of the Health Service Ombudsman; what recent assessment of the quality of that work has been made; and if he will make a statement.

Simon Burns: The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman is independent of Government and is directly accountable to Parliament. As such, it would not be appropriate for the Department to monitor or assess the quality of the work carried out by the Ombudsman.

Health Services

John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average population size of each clinical commissioning group will be relative to the population size of the primary care trust which each is replacing.

Simon Burns: Clinical commissioning groups will be established from October 2012. It is for prospective clinical commissioning groups to determine the best size at which to effectively exercise their functions and meet the needs of their patients. The NHS Commissioning Board will be responsible for ensuring that clinical commissioning groups are of sufficient size to be able to discharge their functions and that they have an appropriate area, for example, in relation to their responsibilities for arranging emergency and urgent care services within their boundaries and for commissioning services for any unregistered patients who live within their area. They will also need to work coherently with local partners to best serve local health needs.

Mental Health Services: Sussex

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make an assessment of the role of voluntary organisations in providing mental healthcare treatment in (a) Mid Sussex constituency and (b) West Sussex.

Paul Burstow: The role of voluntary organisations in providing mental health services locally is a matter for local national health service organisations. Voluntary and community organisations can draw on the wealth of experience of their local communities in meeting the needs of people they work with, including people experiencing poor mental health who may also feel socially excluded. Some of these organisations have experience of helping people to manage their own mental health better in the community—including through peer support services, user-led self-help groups, mentoring and befriending, and time-banking schemes, which enable service users to be both providers and recipients of support. Well managed and well-supported volunteering opportunities can help people to develop the skills and confidence to play a more active role in their own wellbeing and their community, and to influence the shape and scope of local services. Innovative approaches aimed at involving service users and the wider community can also help to break down barriers and reduce stigma.

Mental Health Services: Sussex

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what the (a) mean and (b) median ages are of people receiving mental healthcare treatment in Mid Sussex constituency;
	(2)  how many people in Mid Sussex constituency are receiving treatment for mental health conditions.

Simon Burns: The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is in the following table.
	
		
			 Number of people using adult and elderly secondary mental health services by age in 2010-11 for the Mid Sussex constituency 
			 Age group Number 
			 Under 18 54 
			 18 to 35 700 
			 36 to 64 1,034 
			 65 and over 1,050 
			 Total number of people 2,838 
			 Notes: 1. Data for 2010-11 is the most up-to-date available. 2. The MHMDS only covers adults using secondary mental health services and is therefore only a subset of those people being treated for mental health illnesses. 3. The MHMDS does not contain the range required to provide a mean and median age of people receiving mental health care treatment. Instead, the table shows data by age grouping. 4. The MHMDS is a record level dataset covering mainly specialist NHS mental health services for working age adults and people over the age of 65. Some (but not all) independent service providers who provide services on behalf of the NHS are also included. The MHMDS includes information from medium secure services but does not include information from the three high security hospitals. 5. The quality of' MHMDS data has been improving over time in general and with respect to key items and trust level data quality reports. Improvement in the completeness of recording all the activity which should be included in MHMDS is less easy to measure, as the MHMDS records the packages of care received by individuals and these vary widely. Source: Health and Social Care Information Centre Mental Health Minimum Dataset (MHMDS) 2010-11 annual returns

Mental Health Services: Sussex

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has made an assessment of future demand for NHS mental healthcare treatment in (a) Mid Sussex constituency and (b) West Sussex.

Paul Burstow: The planning and provision of health care services is a matter for local national health service organisations. No such assessment has been made centrally.

Mental Health Services: Sussex

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost of NHS mental health care treatment was in Mid Sussex constituency in each of the last five financial years.

Paul Burstow: The information requested is not held on a constituency level. The following table sets out mental health expenditure for West Sussex Primary Care Trust (PCT), for the years 2006-07 to 2010-11.
	
		
			 Total expenditure (£000) 
			 Programme budgeting category 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 
			 Mental health disorders 96.686 121,456 107,541 121,571 118,999 
			 Substance misuse 2,792 8,333 2,670 2,719 6,047 
			 Organic mental disorders 3,681 12,057 11,221 20,624 9,508 
			 Psychotic disorders 4,149 5,557 50,895 35,936 9,578 
			 Child health and adolescent mental health disorders 8,666 7,651 7,118 6,748 8,494 
			 Mental health disorders (Other) 77,398 87,858 35,637 55,544 85,372 
			 Notes: 1. Estimates of expenditure are calculated using price paid for specific activities and services purchased from health care providers. PCTs follow standard guidance, procedures and mappings when calculating programme budgeting data. 2. Figures include expenditure across all sectors. Disease specific expenditure does not include expenditure on general practitioner (GP) contracts but do include prescribing expenditure. 3. Not all expenditure relating to ‘mental health disorders’ will be included within the figures given. Analysing expenditure for the programme budgeting return is complex, and there are some service areas where local commissioners do not have sufficient information to determine which expenditure on specific patients and conditions. —In primary care, the majority of PCTs do not have information to identify the health care condition that was the main reason for a patient’s appointment with a GP or Practice Nurse. Additionally, for many patients the diagnosis may be unknown at the time of the appointment or the patient may have multiple conditions. —For out-patient activity, most PCTs do not have information to identify the health-care condition that was the main reason for out-patient attendances. —For community care, PCTs may not have sufficient information to accurately allocate expenditure to programme categories. 4. The allocation of expenditure to programme budgeting subcategories is not always straightforward, and subcategory level data should therefore be used with caution. 5. The programme budgeting data collection methodology and underlying data sources are subject to yearly changes to improve the data quality. Due to the significant changes made to calculation methodologies, it is not possible to make direct comparisons with programme budgeting data from previous years. Source: Annual PCT programme budgeting Programme Budgeting data collection

NHS: Pay

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people employed by the NHS earn more than (a) £150,000, (b) £200,000 and (c) £250,000 per annum.

Simon Burns: Information is not held centrally on the salaries of national health service staff.
	The Government Actuary's Department estimate that, as at 31 March 2010:
	(a) 7,000 NHS Pension Scheme members had whole time equivalent pensionable pay of over £150,000 per annum,
	(b) 2,000 NHS Pension Scheme members had whole time equivalent pensionable pay of over £200,000 per annum, and
	(c) fewer than 1,000 NHS Pension Scheme members had whole time equivalent pensionable pay of over £250,000 per annum.

Obesity

Kevin Barron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions he has had with (a) the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, (b) the British Medical Association and (c) NHS employers on the Quality and Outcome Framework indicators on obesity.

Simon Burns: The prioritisation and development of potential indicators for inclusion in the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) is a matter for the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).
	The independent advisory committee that advises NICE on QOF indicators met on 9 June 2011 and considered the evidence base for two obesity indicators for potential inclusion in the QOF. The committee decided not to recommend the progression of either indicator for inclusion on its menu of suggested indicators to be considered as part of the negotiations on improving the QOF. Full details of the discussion were published in the minutes of the June 2011 committee meeting on the NICE website at:
	www.nice.org.uk/media/718/34/QOF_Independent_Primary_ Care_QOF_Indicator_Advisory_Committee_090611_unconfirmed _minutes.pdf

Obesity

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to encourage GPs to treat overweight and obese individuals.

Anne Milton: We encourage general practitioners to implement guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) on the “Prevention, identification, assessment and management of overweight and obesity in adults and children” and, where appropriate, implement their local obesity care pathway to ensure that patients receive the support they need to manage their weight.
	The NICE guidance, available at:
	www.nice.org.uk/CG43

Ovarian Cancer

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the introduction of a national screening programme on (a) detection and (b) survival rates for ovarian cancer; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what steps he plans to take to improve survival rates for ovarian cancer.

Paul Burstow: On 12 January 2011, we published ‘Improving Outcomes: A Strategy for Cancer’, which sets out how the Government's reforms will improve outcomes for all cancer patients, including those with ovarian cancer. The strategy sets out an ambition to save an additional 5,000 lives every year by 2014-15 through earlier diagnosis of cancer and improved access to screening and radiotherapy. We will not be able to deliver on this ambition by focusing solely on the more common cancers, and so the national health service will need to take action to improve survival rates for less common cancers, such as ovarian cancer.
	To support earlier diagnosis of cancer, the Government has committed over £450 million over the next four years. This money will be used to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of cancer; fund increased general practitioner access to diagnostic tests; and pay for more testing and treatment in secondary care. One of the tests we are increasing access to is non-obstetric ultrasound to support the diagnosis of ovarian cancer.
	The strategy also sets out our commitment to work with a number of rarer cancer-focused charities to assess what more can be done to encourage appropriate referrals to secondary care and to diagnose rarer cancers earlier. Departmental officials have already met with a number of these charities, including those concerned with ovarian cancer, with the aim of identifying some of the barriers to early diagnosis and to discuss potential solutions. The outcome of these discussions has been fed into the National Awareness and Early Diagnosis Initiative.
	I recently announced that we would trial a specific ovarian cancer signs and symptoms campaign in early 2013. We intend running local pilots in three different parts of the country and we will work with key stakeholders, including the ovarian cancer charities, to agree the key messages for the campaign. These campaigns will be evaluated to assess the potential for regional campaign activity and any subsequent national activity.
	The UK National Screening Committee's (UK NSC) current position on ovarian cancer screening is that it should not be offered except in the context of the UK Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening (UKCTOCS) randomised controlled trial. The UK NSC agreed at its meeting in June 2010 that screening for ovarian cancer would next be reviewed when results of UKCTOCS were published or earlier if any new significant peer reviewed evidence emerges in the meantime. The initial follow up of the UKTOCS trial is expected to be complete in December 2014.

Ovarian Cancer

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to ensure that women have equitable access to clinical trials and new treatments related to ovarian cancer.

Paul Burstow: The National Institute for Health Research Cancer Research Network (NCRN) was established in 2001 by the Department to improve the speed, coordination, integration, quality and inclusiveness of cancer clinical research, for the benefit of patients and the national health service. Participation in clinical research studies in ovarian cancer hosted by the NCRN has risen from 287 patients (4.1%, of new cases) in 2001-02 to 1,515 patients (21.8%, of new cases) in 2011-12.
	The NCRN consists of 32 local research networks that are fully embedded within the NHS cancer networks and provide full-geographical coverage across England. Every NHS trust where cancer is treated has access to research trials through its local NCRN network. There are currently 19 ovarian cancer studies open to accrual and eight in set-up in the NCRN portfolio. In addition to charity and government-funded academic research, the portfolio includes industry-sponsored trials. Research trials are strictly regulated under law and require approvals at a local level before opening to accrual, and not all trials can be feasibly run across all sites. Therefore, whilst every NCRN network has some ovarian cancer studies open, not every locality would expect to run the entire NCRN ovarian portfolio.
	A publicly available portfolio map depicts the current NCRN ovarian cancer portfolio by study and is available at:.
	http://ncrndev.org.uk/downloads/Trial%20Maps/Gynae/Gynaecological%20Trial%20Map%20B.pdf
	In addition, the NIHR funds 15 experimental cancer medicine centres across England in close partnership with Cancer Research UK. Since the initiative commenced, 29 ovarian cancer studies have been supported by 11 of these centres. Five of these studies are currently in set-up and seven, are open to patient recruitment. Of the remaining studies, seven are in follow-up and 10 have completed and closed.
	The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is currently appraising a number of drug treatment combinations for ovarian cancer. In the absence of final positive NICE technology appraisal guidance, NHS organisations are required to make funding decisions locally based on an assessment of the available evidence. Where a cancer drug is not routinely funded by the NHS, patients may be able to access it through the Cancer Drugs Fund.

Public Expenditure

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he expects his Department to underspend its budget for 2012-13; and what estimate he has made of any such underspend.

Simon Burns: The Office of Budgetary Responsibility forecast underspends in Departmental Expenditure Limits as part of their economic and fiscal outlook in the autumn.
	As part of the Transparency Agenda, the Government publishes the full detail of plans and outturn for all Departments after the end of the financial year, usually in September. HM Treasury publish outturn data for all Departments from the COINS database, available on the Treasury website on a quarterly basis. Forecasts for 2012-13 outturn by the Department will be published at Budget 2013.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Civil Disorder

Toby Perkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many of the business claims for damages under the Riots Damages Act 1886 have been rejected or discontinued since 11 August 2011;
	(2)  how many businesses have submitted claims for damages under the Riots Damages Act 1886 since 1 August 2011;
	(3)  what the five most commons grounds were for rejected claims for damages under the Riots Damages Act 1886 since 1 August 2011; and how many claims were rejected for each such reason.

Nick Herbert: Under the Riot (Damages) Act 1886, applications for compensation are made directly to police authorities. Information on the amount of claims submitted by businesses, numbers rejected and numbers by category of rejection are held locally by each police authority; this information is not, therefore, collected centrally. Typically speaking, the most common reasons for rejection include:
	(1) claims made for business interruption, personal injury or vehicle damage, which is not covered by the RDA;
	(2) claims deemed by the police authority to not have occurred as a result of a riot;
	(3) claims discontinued or withdrawn; and
	(4) claims made out of time.

Deportation

Alun Cairns: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 21 June 2012, Official Report, column 1113-4W, on deportation, what the cost was of each type of removal and voluntary departures named in table rv.01.q of the Immigration Statistics in each of the last three years.

Damian Green: The cost of each type of removal and voluntary departure named in table rv.01.q of the Immigration Statistics is not collated centrally by the UK Border Agency. To provide this information would incur disproportionate cost.
	The UK Border Agency annual accounts for 2010-11 can be viewed at:
	http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/aboutus/annual-reports-accounts/
	A copy has also been placed in the House Library.

Equality and Human Rights Commission

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what arrangements are in place to monitor the equality impact of the decision to end the Equality and Human Rights Commission's legal and strategic grants programme; and when she expects to publish the equality impact assessment.

Lynne Featherstone: Although there is no requirement to produce or publish equality impact assessments, the impact of ending Government funding for the Equality and Human Rights Commission's grant programmes was set out in a document published in March 2011 on the GEO website; a copy has been placed in the Library of the House. Additional information accompanied the December 2011 announcement on future Government funding for legal advice on discrimination cases and the May 2012 Government response to the consultation ‘Building a fairer Britain: Reform of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
	For the future, management information provided by the supplier of the new Equality Advisory and Support Service for individuals with discrimination and human rights problems will be a valuable source of information about the experience of people who share particular protected characteristics.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Commonwealth Development Corporation

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether the CDC is required to disclose to his Department the co-investors in funds it supports.

Andrew Mitchell: Consistent with industry practice, my Department does not require CDC to disclose the co-investors in the funds that it supports.

Ex Gratia Payments

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what estimate his Department has made of the monetary value of ex gratia payments made through schemes administered by his Department in the last two years.

Alan Duncan: DFID has made ex gratia payments totalling £550 over the last two years, which related to payments made through the Overseas Superannuation Scheme.

Overseas Aid: Arts

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development which projects funded by his Department relate to creative industries.

Alan Duncan: DFID does not classify projects according to whether they relate to creative industries. This information is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
	Details of all of DFID's projects are publicly available at this link:
	http://projects.dfid.gov.uk/

JUSTICE

Defamation Bill

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 27 June 2012, Official Report, column 256W, on the Defamation Bill, which organisations and individuals he and his Ministers met prior to the publication of the Defamation Bill.

Jonathan Djanogly: Between the publication of the Draft Defamation Bill on 15 March 2011 and the introduction into Parliament of the Defamation Bill on 10 May 2012 Ministers have met representatives from the following organisations and individuals: English PEN; index on Censorship; Sense about Science; Liberty; Justice; Global Witness; The Publishers Association; The Booksellers Association; The Newspaper Society; Guardian Media Group; News International; Associated Newspapers; Trinity Mirror; BBC; Society of Editors; Blackstone Chambers; Carter-Ruck; Johnsons Law; Schillings; Bryan Cave LLP; Internet Service Providers Association; Association of British Science Writers; Government Office for Science; British Medical Journal; Nature; Biomed Central; Simon Singh; Dr Peter Wilmshurst; Ben Goldacre.

Squatting

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what factors he plans to take into account in deciding when the squatting provisions of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 will be enacted;
	(2)  if he will estimate the total cost to the taxpayer of squatters in (a) social housing and (b) council-owned buildings in each of the last five years.

Crispin Blunt: We intend to commence the offence as soon as reasonably practicable, but we want to ensure that guidance for the enforcement authorities is in place prior to commencement. We are also working with local authorities and homelessness organisations to increase awareness of the new provision and to prepare them for commencement.
	We do not routinely collect data on the costs to the taxpayer arising from the unauthorised occupation of social housing or council-owned buildings. However responses to the consultation on ‘Options for Dealing with Squatting’ showed that local authorities can incur costs in evicting squatters and repairing any damage they have left behind. Squatting in social housing can also delay local authorities making homes available for those deemed to be in priority need.

PRIME MINISTER

Parliamentary Private Secretaries: Visits Abroad

Chris Bryant: To ask the Prime Minister 
	(1)  pursuant to the answer of 9 July 2012, Official Report, column 10W, on Russia, when he authorised the travel of the hon. Member for Wyre and Preston North to Russia;
	(2)  which other parliamentary private secretaries he has authorised to travel overseas on an official visit, as required by paragraph 3.11 of the Ministerial Code, since May 2010; and when he did so in each case.

David Cameron: Since May 2010, there has been one further occasion where permission has been given in line with paragraph 3.11 of the Ministerial Code for a Parliamentary Private Secretary to travel on an official visit overseas. This was my hon. Friend the Member for Lancaster and Fleetwood (Eric Ollerenshaw) who accompanied the Minister without Portfolio to the Vatican. He paid his own travel expenses.

SCOTLAND

Assets

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what assets his Department has sold and leased back over the last 12 months; what the sale price was of each asset so sold; and what estimate his Department has made of the cost to the public purse of leasing back each such asset over the period of the lease.

David Mundell: The Scotland Office has not sold and leased back any assets over the last 12 months.

Ex Gratia Payments

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what estimate his Department has made of the monetary value of ex gratia payments made through schemes administered by his Department in the last two years.

David Mundell: The Scotland Office does not administer ex gratia payment schemes.

Lost Working Days

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what the average number of working days lost per person was in his Department in each of the last three years.

David Mundell: All Scotland Office staff are on secondment from other Government bodies, principally the Scottish Government or the Ministry of Justice, which have their own absence policies and recording procedures that apply to those of their staff working in this Office.
	The Scotland Office's own records show that there were an average of 2.45 days absence due to sickness per person in 2010, 2.00 days in 2011, and 1.70 days in the first six months of 2012.

Manchester Declaration

Stephen McPartland: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what progress his Department has made in implementing the Manchester Declaration of 2005.

David Mundell: The 2005 Manchester Ministerial Declaration provided the basis for an eGovernment Action Plan, which formed part of the EU's i2010 Strategy, and was completed in 2010. The UK contribution to the action plan was managed and coordinated by the Cabinet Office.
	The Manchester Declaration has now been superseded by the Malmo Declaration and eGovernment Action Plan (2011-15) and the broader Digital Agenda for Europe. The UK contribution to the eGovernment Action Plan is again being led by the Cabinet Office.

Public Expenditure

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he expects his Department to underspend its budget for 2012-13; and what estimate he has made of any such underspend.

David Mundell: The Office of Budget Responsibility forecasts underspends in departmental expenditure limits as part of its economic and fiscal outlook in the autumn.
	As part of the transparency agenda the Government publishes the full detail of plans and outturns for all departments after the end of the financial year, usually in September. HM Treasury publishes outturn data for all departments from the COINS database, available on the Treasury website on a quarterly basis. Forecasts for 2012-13 outturns by department will be published at Budget 2013.

Sovereignty

Ann McKechin: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland 
	(1)  whether the Government plans to discuss the referendum on Scottish independence at the next meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee;
	(2)  whether the Scottish Government has requested a discussion of the referendum on Scottish independence at the next meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee of the Government and the devolved Administrations.

David Mundell: The next meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee will be the JMC Plenary meeting in the autumn. The agenda has yet to be agreed between the UK Government and the devolved Administrations.

Staff

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many staff of his Department were in the civil service redeployment pool on the latest date for which figures are available; and how many of these had been in the redeployment pool for more than six months at that date.

David Mundell: The Scotland Office does not employ staff directly; staff are on secondment or assignment mainly from the Ministry of Justice or the Scottish Government, which remain responsible for redeployment arrangements for their employees. Currently, there are no Scotland Office staff in the redeployment pool.

TRANSPORT

A3: Hampshire

Damian Hinds: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when she expects to (a) take and (b) publish traffic measurements for the A3 in East Hampshire to assess the effects of the Hindhead tunnel in its first year of operation.

Michael Penning: Motorway Incident Detection and Automatic Signalling (MIDAS) loops on both the north and southbound approaches to the Hindhead tunnel automatically record traffic data. These will be used to inform the Highway Agency's Post Opening Project Evaluation (POPE) of the A3 Hindhead project.
	In order to facilitate this evaluation, a before study was undertaken in 2007. It is anticipated that the study using One Year After data will be published late 2013.
	The normal practice would be to follow this up with a study using five years of after data to examine impacts such as accident trends and environmental impacts which take longer to become apparent.

A3: Hampshire

Damian Hinds: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when she expects to complete noise action plans for the A3 in East Hampshire resulting from the 2012 noise mapping exercise.

Michael Penning: The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) is responsible for the development and adoption of the action plans relating to majors roads resulting from the 2012 noise mapping exercise. The Highways Agency will implement these action plans once they are published by DEFRA. Until the plans are published, the Highways Agency is unable confirm what locations on the strategic road network, including the A3 in East Hampshire, will need to be investigated for noise mitigation measures.

Blue Badge Scheme

Jason McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what her policy is on the issuing of blue badges to people who require a wider parking space because they have difficulty exiting and entering their cars but who may be mobile once they are away from their vehicle.

Norman Baker: The eligibility criteria for blue badges are set out in the Disabled Persons (Badges for Motor Vehicles) (England) Regulations 2000, as amended. Eligibility for the scheme is focused on providing badges for severely disabled people so that they can park close to jobs, shops and other services. It is not intended to help people simply get into and out of their vehicles.
	The main category of people who can apply for a badge is those who have a permanent and substantial disability that means they are unable to walk or have very considerable difficulty in walking. Local authorities administer and enforce the scheme and it is for them to take decisions on whether or not someone meets the eligibility criteria.

Driving Tests: Internet

Dan Rogerson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps her Department is taking in respect of websites that imitate the official Government website used to book practical driving tests and charge additional fees to make such a booking.

Michael Penning: Most third-party websites that offer driving test booking services do not represent themselves as being the official site. Their published terms and conditions outline the charges payable by their customers. In general it is not illegal for them to operate and offer a driving test booking service.
	Where the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) feels there are specific grounds to take action in cases of alleged imitation, it will:
	report to the Advertising Standards Authority any advertising by sites which appears to be misleading.
	report to search engine providers cases where advertising infringes DSA's intellectual property.
	take up directly with domain name providers and hosting companies cases where 'DSA' forms part of the website address.
	consider taking legal action in cases where websites infringe the DSA's registered trademarks.

Driving Under Influence: Drugs

Linda Riordan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  what discussions her Department has had with patient groups on the effects of proposed drug driving legislation on patients taking long-term pain medication; and if she will make a statement;
	(2)  what consideration her Department has given to the effects of proposed drug driving legislation on drivers using long-term pain medication; and if she will make a statement;
	(3)  what discussions her Department has had with the (a) British Pain Society and (b) Royal College of General Practitioners National Pain Lead on the effects of proposed drug driving legislation on patients taking long-term pain medication; and if she will make a statement;
	(4)  what discussions her Department has had with pain management groups on proposals for drug driving legislation; and if she will make a statement.

Michael Penning: The aim of the new offence is to improve the law available for tackling the problem of drug driving, a behaviour which presents a significant road safety risk. The new offence contains a statutory defence for those drivers who have taken medicines containing specified controlled drugs in accordance with medical advice.
	The Government have set up a panel of experts to work together to come up with recommendations for the controlled drugs to be covered by the new offence and a specified limit for each. The terms of reference for the panel include considering the evidence in relation to amphetamines, benzodiazepines and hypnotics, cannabinoids, cocaine, hallucinogens and opioids.
	The expert panel is considering opioids, because some of the scientific issues need to be considered across this family of drugs, which includes both heroin and medicinally used drugs. However the prime targets for the new offence are those controlled drugs taken for non-medicinal reasons which represent a public safety problem on the roads. Heroin is one of the relatively prevalent controlled drugs taken non-medicinally and known to affect driving.
	The members of the panel are medical and scientific experts. Their terms of reference include
	“to consider in cases where such concentrations can be identified, for an average member of the adult population the degree of variability across the population, including for habitual users of these substances”.
	Some controlled drugs available for medical use are often used as drugs of misuse and associated with increased road crash risks. These might be included in the new offence.
	The existing offence (in section 4 of the 1988 Act), which covers driving whilst impaired due to drugs, would continue to be relevant to deal with those whose driving is impaired by prescribed drugs (including specified controlled drugs taken in accordance with medical advice), where police will have to prove impairment on a case by case.
	The list of specified controlled drugs and specified limits are not contained in the legislation itself, but the legislation creates the power to set these in regulations. This will be done taking account of the panel's recommendations, consultation and then through secondary legislation using the affirmative procedure. The consultation is a statutory requirement.
	The previous administration had consulted various representatives from medical profession, pharmaceutical industry on new drug driving offence in 2008. There was also extensive evidence gathering for Sir Peter North for his report on the review of drink and drug driving law in 2010, commissioned by the Department for Transport.

Equality Act 2010

Mike Freer: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when she expects to implement section 165 of the Equality Act 2010 in relation to taxis and mini-cab drivers.

Norman Baker: The Government has in place a rigorous approval system for considering the implications of any new regulation which it introduces. We have been considering the case for commencing section 165 in the context of that approvals process, and I intend to make an announcement about section 165 in the near future.

Highways Agency

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what performance indicators her Department has put in place to assess the Highways Agency and its agents in respect of the implementation of maintenance and safety standards of the infrastructure of the network.

Michael Penning: All the Highways Agency's principal performance measures are agreed by the Secretary of State for Transport, my right hon. Friend the Member for Putney (Justine Greening), and are published in the agency's annual business plan.
	Highways Agency maintenance and safety standards are set out in various documents that are referenced in the agency's maintenance contracts. These documents include the Network Management Manual, Routine and Winter Service Code, Asset Maintenance and Operational Requirements, Design Manual for Roads and Bridges and the Specification for Highway Works.
	A performance management framework is in place for the agents who maintain the strategic road network, through which the agency routinely measures and benchmarks performance. The framework includes performance indicators covering asset resilience and safety.
	Details of the framework and all the other documents referred to above are accessible from the Highways Agency's website:
	www.highways.gov.uk

Motorways: Speed Limits

David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent progress she has made on her proposals to raise the motorway speed limit to 80mph.

Michael Penning: The Department is currently working on an impact assessment of 80 mph speed limit on sections of the motorway network with variable speed limits and considering the criteria for where and under what conditions the 80 mph speed limit might be applied. It is aiming to consult on this later in the year alongside the broader work on a roads strategy.

Public Expenditure

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether she expects her Department to underspend its budget for 2012-13; and what estimate she has made of any such underspend.

Norman Baker: The Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts underspends in Departmental Expenditure Limits as part of their Economic and Fiscal Outlook in the Autumn.
	As part of the Transparency Agenda the Government publishes the full detail of plans and outturn for all departments after the end of the financial year, usually in September. HM Treasury publish outturn data for all departments from the COINS database, available on the Treasury website on a quarterly basis. Forecasts for 2012-13 outturn by department will be published at Budget 2013.

Railways: Standards

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of trains ran within 60 seconds of scheduled time in each year since 1997. [R]

Norman Baker: Statistics for the period 2001/02 to 2011/12 were published by the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) on 10 July. The figures are as follows:
	
		
			  National 
			 Percentage of trains arriving early or up to 59 seconds of schedule 
			 2001/02 46.9% 
			 2002/03 48.7% 
			 2003/04 51.1% 
			 2004/05 54.7% 
			 2005/06 59.4% 
			 2006/07 62.7% 
			 2007/08 66.2% 
			 2008/09 68.0% 
			 2009/10 70.2% 
			 2010/11 69.6% 
			 2011/12 69.8% 
		
	
	The Department will discuss with ORR whether it is feasible to extend the series back to 1997.

Rescue Services: Scotland

Brian H Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what progress has been made on the provision of coastguard services in Scottish waters (a) in respect of protection for the Scottish fishing fleet and (b) for other services.

Michael Penning: The modernisation plan for Her Majesty's Coastguard announced on 22 November 2011, Official Report, columns 161-64, is proceeding in line with that announcement.
	There will be no changes to the level of rescue coordination services that Her Majesty's Coastguard delivers to the coastal and maritime users around the UK, including those in Scotland.

Road Signs and Markings

John Hemming: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if she will consider introducing an additional classification of a road in which a 20 mile per hour limit would be enforced.

Norman Baker: We see no need to introduce an additional classification of road specifically connected to 20 mph limits.
	Mandatory 20 mph restrictions can be introduced as either zones or limits, both of which have legal force and can be enforced by the police. Both zones and limits must be indicated through signing and in some cases traffic calming features, and last year the Department provided more flexibility to local authorities about how this could be done.
	A consultation started today on a revised speed limit circular, which includes advice to local authorities about 20 mph zones and limits. The consultation document is available on the Department for Transport website
	www.dft.gov.uk

Shipping: Flags

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport with reference to the answer of 15 December 2011, Official Report, column 846W, on shipping: flags, how many qualifying vessels were registered under each flag for 2011-12; and what the number of qualifying vessels was, by flag, in each year of the tonnage tax scheme to date.

Michael Penning: The tonnage tax scheme makes no direct requirement as to the country of registration of qualifying vessels. The tonnage tax has helped in the revival of the UK shipping register, while also attracting inward investment from companies operating vessels of other flags, which we welcome. The identity of tonnage tax groups is tax confidential, and that confidentiality could be compromised by giving a detailed breakdown by flag of the numbers of qualifying vessels in any year.

Tonnage Tax

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the average age was of a vessel registered under the tonnage tax scheme in 2011-12.

Michael Penning: The Department does not hold this information.

Travel: Concessions

Mark Reckless: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps she has taken to provide transport (a) schemes and (b) concessions to assist students outside the London area with the cost of travel on buses and trains.

Norman Baker: Concessionary Travel legislation gives local authorities the power to offer discretionary travel concessions, funded from local resources.
	At the same time, the Department is working with the bus industry to tackle transport issues affecting young people, such as the inconsistency of information about discounted fares.
	The Department has endorsed the publication of two guides for young people on using buses: ‘How to make buses better—a guide for young people’ and ‘Working with young people to make buses better—a guide for the bus sector’. They showcase a range of principles and solutions, centred around the involvement of young people in developing local solutions with transport providers. The guides are published at:
	http://www.dft.gov.uk/topics/social-inclusion
	All young people have discounts available to them on rail services: children aged 5 to 15 inclusive get a 50% discount on most rail tickets and the 16-25 Railcard gives 1/3rd off most rail fares throughout Great Britain, including all Standard and First Class Advance fares for an annual fee of £28.

TREASURY

Absenteeism

John Pugh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the absentee rate for civil servants in his Department was in each of the last three years.

David Ruffley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the average number of working days lost per person was in his Department in each of the last three years.

Chloe Smith: Please see the following table for HM Treasury absentee rates for each of the last three financial years.
	
		
			 HM Treasury 
			  Average working days lost per employee 
			 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2012 3.9 
			 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2011 3.4 
			 1 April 2009 to 31 March 10 3.6

Air Passenger Duty

Alun Cairns: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of levels of air passenger duty in other countries in Europe.

Chloe Smith: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 30 January 2012, Official Report, column 511W, to the hon. Member for East Londonderry (Mr Campbell).

Air Passenger Duty

Alun Cairns: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what consideration he has given to varying air passenger duty to help manage demands between airports.

Chloe Smith: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 10 July, Official Report, column 131W.

Bank Services

Alun Cairns: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimates his Department has made of the scale and extent of the unregulated shadow banking industry.

Mark Hoban: As part of its financial stability objective HM Treasury works with the Tripartite as well as international partners to understand all parts of the financial system and the risks this might entail. The UK authorities have been instrumental in work undertaken by the Financial Stability Board over the last year in relation to shadow banking. This work has included developing estimates of non-bank credit instruments as an accepted proxy for shadow banking. Aggregated results from 11 jurisdictions (Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, Spain, UK and US) suggest that non-bank credit intermediaries grew from $23 trillion in 2002 to $50 trillion in 2007, and has fallen a little to $47 trillion in 2008 but recovered to $51 trillion in 2010. It should be noted, however, that the shadow banking industry is not unregulated. While shadow banking entities will not typically be subject to full bank-style prudential regulation, many shadow banking entities will be regulated.

Business: Loans

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of progress made by banks against the 17 pledges through the Business Finance Taskforce.

Mark Hoban: The Government welcome the progress the banks have made in delivering the commitments of the Business Finance Taskforce, as well as their intention to continue to take these initiatives forward as announced at Budget 2012. For example, the Government welcomes the British Bankers' Association's intention to work with Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs) to put in place a system to refer unsuccessful loan applicants to CDFIs. The system will start with a referral pilot in August.

Child Benefit

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 18 July 2012, Official Report, column 721W, on child benefit, when he expects HM Revenue and Customs' guidance on high-income child benefit to be published.

David Gauke: HM Revenue and Customs' guidance on the high income child benefit charge will be published on its internet site in October 2012 to coincide with the issuing of letters to taxpayers in relation to the charge. The guidance will include the form in which questions may be asked to enable a taxpayer to establish whether they or their partner or ex-partner will be liable to pay the charge.

Equitable Life Assurance Society

Jo Swinson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the administrators of the Equitable Life Payments Scheme will respond to the letters from the hon. Member for East Dunbartonshire of 26 March and 19 April 2012.

David Gauke: The Equitable Life Payment scheme has responded to all the letters it has received from the hon. Member for East Dunbartonshire.

Equitable Life Assurance Society

Jo Swinson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will take steps to establish a hotline for hon. Members for the Equitable Life Payments Scheme.

Mark Hoban: The Scheme has established a call centre to answer general inquiries about the Scheme. As the call centre has no access to personal details, any detailed requests, such as those made on behalf of a constituent, need to be put in writing to the Scheme.

Government: Pay

Priti Patel: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which (a) Government departments and (b) non-departmental public bodies have sought approval from his Department for special payments to be made to staff above the requirements of their pay remits in each of the last five years; and if he will provide details of each (i) approved and (ii) declined request.

Danny Alexander: The Treasury does not keep a formal record of all such requests. Requests for payments outside the scope of the pay remit are unusual, and almost always declined.

Personal Savings

Liam Byrne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost to the Exchequer was of fiscal incentives to encourage individuals to save; and what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of such measures.

David Gauke: Tax relief is available on pension contributions from employers and employees, and on investment growth of pension funds. Upon retirement a tax-free lump sum can also be taken (subject to scheme rules). The Government provides this tax relief to encourage individuals to save for the long-term. HMRC estimate that pensions tax relief, net of income tax received on pensions on payment, was worth around £24 billion in 2010-11. Recent ONS data shows that 58% of individuals reported having private pension wealth in 2008-10.
	To ensure that pensions tax relief remains fair and affordable, the Government reduced the annual allowance for tax-free saving for retirement from £255,000 to £50,000 from April 2011, and the lifetime allowance from £1.8 million to £1.5 million from April 2012. This approach reduces the cost of pensions tax relief by around £4 billion a year in the steady state. The Government adopted this approach in preference to that legislated for by the last Government in the Finance Act 2010,
	Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) are the Government’s principal non-pension savings incentive. The estimated Exchequer cost of the tax relief on ISAs in 2011-12 was £2.1 billion.
	ISAs are a popular savings product: at the end of 2010-11 the market value of ISA holdings stood at £385 billion. 23.9 million people had ISA’s in 2009-10, and 59% of these people were on incomes below £20,000 per year. The Government are commuted to ensuring that ISAs remain valuable and accessible.
	HMRC's estimates of the value of tax reliefs are available on their website:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/

Public Expenditure

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which departments have surrendered an underspend through Budget Exchange in advance of the end of the financial year.

Danny Alexander: Under the Budget Exchange system Departments only surrender underspends as part of the Supplementary Estimates process, which runs later in the year.
	Details of which Departments carried forward underspends from 2011-12 into 2012-13 can be found in the 2011 Supplementary Estimates.

Public Expenditure

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which Government departments are expected to have greater than forecast savings in departmental spending in 2012-13.

Danny Alexander: The OBR forecast underspends in Departmental Expenditure Limits as part of their Economic and Fiscal Outlook in the autumn.
	As part of the Transparency Agenda the Government publishes the full detail of plans and outturn for all Departments after the end of the financial year, usually in September. HM Treasury publish outturn data for all Departments from the COINS database, available on the Treasury website on a quarterly basis. Forecasts for 2012-13 outturn by Department will be published at Budget 2013.

WALES

Assets

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what assets her Department has sold and leased back over the last 12 months; what the sale price was of each asset so sold; and what estimate her Department has made of the cost to the public purse of leasing back each such asset over the period of the lease.

David Jones: The Wales Office has not sold or leased back any assets over the last 12 months.

Ex Gratia Payments

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what estimate her Department has made of the monetary value of ex gratia payments made through schemes administered by her Department over the last two years.

David Jones: None. The Wales Office has not made any ex gratia payments over the last two years.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Mortgages: Government Assistance

Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 5 July 2012, Official Report, column 815W, on Mortgages: Government assistance, when he expects to announce his decision on whether support for mortgage interest, including the current capital limit and waiting period, will be retained beyond January 2013.

Steve Webb: An announcement will follow in due course.

Remploy

Frank Doran: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to his decision to wind-up Remploy Ltd, what consideration he has given to the provisions of clause 8 of the company's memorandum and articles of association in relation to disposal of its assets.

Maria Miller: The announcement I made on 10 July related to the outcomes of the Remploy consultation and commercial processes and not any wind up of the company. In relation to the 27 sites for closure, the clauses and requirements as contained within Remploy's memorandum and articles of association that apply to this process, will be considered when planning the most appropriate way of closing those sites.

Social Security Benefits

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 12 June 2012, Official Report, columns 277-8W, on social security benefits: internet, when he expects work to develop data on home internet access availability for benefits claimants to be completed.

Chris Grayling: The Department continues to develop its understanding of how benefit claimants access the internet. For example, the "Work and the welfare system: a survey of benefits and tax credits recipients", was published on Thursday 12 July. The research provides data on recipients' internet use as well as other information on attitudes to work and budgeting skills. We will use the findings to inform our approach to encouraging and supporting claimants to use DWP online services.

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the proportion of universal credit applicants who will not be able to prove their identity online.

Steve Webb: Universal credit is being designed as a predominantly online service. This approach is in line with the Government's digital by default objectives. It remains unclear at this stage what proportion of UC claimants will unable to prove their identity online. The end state model we have designed and are building sees the majority of those who can transact on line using the online Identity and Authentication route. For those who cannot, face to face identity services will be available.

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether he expects jam jar bank accounts to be available for recipients of universal credit; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Grayling: We recognise that some claimants may need additional help to budget, particularly during the transitional period. We are working with a range of banking and financial service providers to ensure that suitable products, including "jam jar" type accounts, are available to such claimants.

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what discussions he has had on the provision of face-to-face support for universal credit claimants with Post Office Ltd; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Grayling: Ministers and officials have regular meetings with Post Office Ltd on a range of interests, including ways in which they might support the delivery of universal credit. The procurement of any such services would be subject to normal tendering processes.

Universal Credit

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 12 June 2012, Official Report, column 281W, on universal credit: employment, when information on the number of local authority employees who will be affected by the introduction of universal credit will be available.

Chris Grayling: Universal credit will provide a new single system of means-tested support for working-age people who are in or out of work. Support for housing costs will be integrated in the new benefit. Existing means-tested benefits including housing benefit will no longer be required.
	Housing benefit for pensioners will be replaced by a component of pension credit and council tax benefit will be replaced by localised council tax support schemes.
	The Department for Work and Pensions estimates that 20,000 local authority staff work on housing benefit and council tax benefit. The processing of these benefits is largely combined and therefore we do not have an estimate of the number of staff working on each benefit.
	We expect that the existing housing benefit scheme will be phased out over a period of four years from 2013 but it is anticipated that local authorities will continue to have an important role in delivery of welfare benefits services. Local authorities in England will administer the discretionary elements of a reformed Social Fund. Local authorities may also deliver face to face support for claimants who need additional help.
	Local authorities will deliver pilots to support claimants in preparation for the introduction of universal credit in October 2013. The pilots, which are expected to start this autumn and end by September 2013, will focus on delivering the face to face support people may need to make claims for universal credit.
	While this work continues it is not possible to determine how many staff and what skills and experience will be required for universal credit.

Work Programme

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will place in the Library a copy of the most recent indicative volumes for employment and support allowance-related claimant groups entering the Work programme in each of the next four years.

Chris Grayling: The most recent indicative volumes for employment and support allowance-related claimant groups entering the Work programme in each of the next four years were placed in the Library in December 2011 and are available via the following link:
	http://www.parliament.uk/deposits/depositedpapers/2012/DEP2012-0132.doc
	The Department is currently updating these estimates and intends to publish them in the Library in due course.